Modern road work: Too much noise?

The left edge of this 160-foot-long, 18-ton concrete bridge beam moves… (DAN HARTZELL, THE MORNING…)

June 16, 2013|Dan Hartzell | The Road Warrior

Q: I live right next to the site of the 15th Street Bridge replacement in Allentown and I was wondering if they have some special dispensation allowing them to operate heavy machinery hours before city sound ordinances allow. More than once I've been awakened before 6 a.m. to the dulcet sounds of heavy construction equipment.

— Erik Golant, Allentown

Q: I live close to the work site of the Hokendauqua-North Catasauqua bridge, and I can't understand why there is no noise ordinance. My children get awakened by trucks delivering materials at 4:15 a.m. They drive down the street, sit there idling to unload, then we get the back-up beeping. It amazes me that bands must stop playing by 10 p.m. at Coplay Saengerbund because of their neighbors, but this can happen not far away, any time of the night or early morning.

— Jennifer Dinbokowitz, Whitehall Township

A: Two bridge-replacement projects, two municipalities, two warriors, same concern about excessive noise. And Robert Quigney of Whitehall also mentioned the clatter from the "Hockey" project: "My apartment has these great big machines working right out back, about 100 feet away," he wrote. "The funny part is, I moved here because it was a quiet, dead-end street."

I'm wondering whether the continual "progress" being made with time-cutting hydraulic and mechanical demolition and construction equipment, heavier trucks and construction vehicles and the like have pushed the infernal racket from road-construction sites ever higher on the decibel scale. Greater efficiency and lower expense are admirable destinations, especially since we're all paying the sticker price. But at what cost to neighbors?

Allentown Public Works Director Rich Young said workers for prime contractor J.D. Eckman Inc. have been starting their engines, so to speak, at the 15th Street Bridge site at 6 a.m. this week, but that's because 160-foot-long concrete support beams are being delivered, and workers need to get an early start to complete the "setting" of the beams on the piers in timely fashion.

The city noise ordinance specifically forbids the operation of tools or equipment used in construction or demolition between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. "such that the sound therefrom creates a noise disturbance across a residential real property boundary." It further prohibits any construction-related work at any hour "such that the sound level at or across a real property boundary exceeds 85 dB(A) unless a variance is obtained."

However, there's a catch, as Young discovered when he looked into the matter: The law applies to everyone but the city, which specifically exempts itself from the provisions of its own noise ordinance. I had not searched that far down in the ordinance (which is online, by the way, along with all the ordinances, at the city's excellent website), but sure enough, in a section titled "Exceptions, variances and extensions": "The provisions of this article shall not apply to … municipal and utility services [including noise] resulting from the repair or replacement of any municipal … installation(s) in or about the public right-of-way."

Young said he wasn't aware of any noise complaints made to the city, and I intended to suggest that you rectify that, Erik, but it wouldn't do any good. Residents disturbed by noise from this project appear to be stuck on Grinandbearit Road. Fortunately, it's a relatively short road, stretching only to the end of this year, assuming the new bridge is completed on time. The project seemed stuck in neutral for years, first closed to southbound traffic and then shut down completely, with no sign of progress. But now that construction's underway, workers appear to be clipping along in the passing lane.

Neither Whitehall Mayor Ed Hozza nor Lehigh County General Services Director Glenn Solt was aware of noise complaints regarding the work at the county-owned Hockey Bridge, though Solt, himself a former construction contractor and former Whitehall Township executive (before the title was changed to mayor), said a few expressions of concern over noise are understandable.

"Especially now; they're pile-driving down there" preparing for the abutments and piers for the new bridge, Solt said.

He said it would be unusual for trucks routinely to make deliveries to the site as early as 4:15 a.m.; hopefully that's not an ongoing problem.

But as in Allentown, it doesn't really matter; Whitehall has no noise ordinance, Hozza and Solt said. Such ordinances were considered at least four different times during Solt's 16 years as a township commissioner and executive, he said, and all eventually were rejected as being excessively complex, technical (requiring decibel-measuring equipment and people trained to use it) and difficult to enforce. Complaints of excess noise from stereos or other residential sources often are dealt with under other prohibitions, such as disturbing the peace.